Scan barcode
joey_erg's review
4.0
Essentially a history of New York as told through the limiting prism of St. Marks St and the East Village neighborhood. Beautifully delineated and well worth the read.
friedgold's review
4.0
I listened to the audio book. The text itself is great. I thought I knew everything there was to know about St. Mark's, but it turns out that I knew very little.
However, the reader of the audio version isn't from New York and pronounces things incorrectly. I found it really annoying, and what's more frustrating is that the people involved with recording it didn't catch it either. Specifically, it's HOW-ston Street, not HYOO-ston Street. She also butchered many Yiddish words.
However, the reader of the audio version isn't from New York and pronounces things incorrectly. I found it really annoying, and what's more frustrating is that the people involved with recording it didn't catch it either. Specifically, it's HOW-ston Street, not HYOO-ston Street. She also butchered many Yiddish words.
audaciaray's review
4.0
I went through a period of heavy reading of all the NYC history books I could get my hands on, but then I hit a wall where I felt like a lot of the info didn't give me anything new. But damn, this one is good - good enough that it will please me to put it in my book shelf next to Luc Sante's Low Life. This book, because of the years it spans, has a great mix of historical methods, including oral history in the more recent years. It also tied together my understanding of the East Village my dad lived in from the mid 50s through the late 70s, with my mom in the mix throughout the 70s, and the neighborhood as I discovered it for myself in the 90s.
misterintensity's review
4.0
If there is one thing that is constant in New York City it's change. Right now "gentrification" is the story of NYC. St. Marks Is Dead looks at the many lives of St. Marks Street. Every generation or so a new group of residents and/or visitors arrive leaving the previous group of residents/visitors lamenting about the "St. Marks of old." This tale is especially relevant today in this time of gentrification. Ada Calhoun does a good job of illustrating the tensions between the entrenched immigrant populations of previous eras with the various newcomers that inevitably arrive to supplant them. Whether it is other immigrants (in earlier eras) or hippies/punks (of more recent years), that tension continually plays out in different yet similar ways. Particularly interesting is how Calhoun points out how the city government resisted some of the community's efforts to take control of the street's destiny. That could have been something that could have been explored more. However, that may have been beyond the scope of the book. This book does a good job showing the effects of gentrification, but it does not go much into the process. Gentrification is a process we all recognize but most of us do not understand it as much as we think.
jeffs's review
5.0
Thankful to learn more about the beautiful, layered history of the "dead" neighborhood I live in. Calhoun writes with expertise that only a local like herself could possess. A must read for any current or former resident of the East Village.
hellphie's review
2.0
My opinion of this book is totally skewed by the lispy narrator of the audiobook who could not pronounce words correctly. It was distracting enough that I almost stopped listening to it.
More...